Calling All Lords and Ladies . . .

Yesterday we took a field trip back in time to the Renaissance Festival.  I had been once before as a child, but the only memories I have of that trip are (1) the lyrics to a very vulgar song, (2) rain, rain, and more rain, (3) a nosebleed, and (4) begging my parents to buy a floral wreath to wear on my head.  They didn't cave, but my dad's friend got tired of listening to me whine had mercy on me and bought me one.  :) 

Based on those memories, I went as prepared as possible.  My friend Yvette made all of the girls floral wreaths the day before (because, you know, it can be done ahead of time for $1.25 or you can pay $15 once you get there!), and we went during School Days for a much more toned-down, child-friendly experience! ;)

There was definitely a lot more there than I ever expected to see!

We started the day off with a joust . . .

The royalty took their seats on the far side of the arena, away from all of us peasants!

This knight was fighting for England, and pretty much everyone was cheering for him.

And they're off! 

France knocked England off of his horse, and the two ended up in a fierce sword fight.

Finally England was victorious!  (This was also the moment when Millie leaned over and said, "Mom, did he really die?")

We learned how the village blacksmith made nails . . .

Straight out of the fire.

Every couple of minutes, he would pump this handle up and down to fan the fire and make it hotter.

Meanwhile, here's what the women would do . . .

These women are spinning thread.  They had to constantly push foot pedals to make the wheel spin.  I can't even imagine how tired their feet would be after a full day's work!

This woman is taking the thread that was just spun and weaving it into fabric.

Hannah and Camille were intrigued by it!

 Hannah had a chance to get really up close and personal with a Gutenberg Press . . .

The first step was to place the letters or pictures to create your design.

Then you took your piece of paper . . . 

. . . and carefully placed it exactly where it needed to go.

The lid had to be folded down and the entire platen had to be moved to the other side of the machine.

Then this lever had to be pulled, which proved to be a two-man job for Hannah! ;)

Voila!  The finished product!  (What's this?!  A free souvenir from the Renaissance Festival?!)

We saw a spectacular Flame Whip show . . .

This guy was truly phenomenal!

We had our picture taken with the King . . .

And we did an awful lot of playing . . .



Millie's favorite part of the day was the authentic carousel ride.  :)



Hannah and her friend played King of the Log.

Millie climbed her way through a multi-level maze and finally found her way out.

And Hannah climbed the castle walls and rang the bell at the top, only to discover that you only win $20 if you make it all the way up on the Challenge Level.


But the highlight for me was this . . .



He was perfectly adorable in an elephant kind of a way.  When I reached my hand out, he faced me and put his trunk in my hand.  I guarantee if I had enough money and if he would have fit in Carrie's van, he would so be at my house right now!



This is the picture you get when the $5 elephant ride is about 30 seconds long and Mama doesn't have her camera quite ready!  But if you strain your eyes very hard and use your imagination, you can see Hannah riding in the back.

By the end of the day, I had developed a killer headache, probably due to the four hours of sleep I got the night before, my severe caffeine deficit, the four hours of sleep I got the night before, the loud cannon explosion, and the four hours of sleep I got the night before.  I was delighted when, two and a half hours and one Redbox rental later, we were back to home sweet home.  Still, all in all, it was a fun day!

(If you want to see some excellent pictures of our day together, check out Carrie's blog!)

Stepping Back in Time: Millard's Crossing

I can't believe it's already been a week since we went to Millard's Crossing and I'm just now posting the pictures! This trip was filled with hands-on activities for the kids, and our guide, Roz, made it loads of fun!  There's a slight chance I may have been a little camera-happy while we were there, so prepare yourself for picture overload! :)

Our tour started off in the Free Methodist church.  The "free" part of Free Methodist has two meanings:  (1) They separated themselves from mainstream Methodists because they didn't agree with much of their doctrine, and (2) they didn't believe you should be charged a pew fee to hear the Word of God, which was actually a common practice at the time.

This is the rope you pull to ring the church bell.

The kids got to look at some of the tools that were common during the late 1800s and early 1900s.  Starting at the left:  (1) This type of ax was used to chop down trees, and then another kind was used to shape them for building.  (2) This "mallet" was made from a solid piece of wood.  (3) This is a pot scrubber that was actually made of metal.  It's like the Brillo pad's great-granddaddy!  (4) This push broom was the coolest, and it had us stumped until Roz explained it to us.  It was basically a big block of wood with holes drilled in it.  Most of the holes were straight up and down, and people inserted corn husks into them.  The hole in the middle was drilled at an angle, and a broom handle was put in it.  (5) This one had us even more stumped than the push broom.  These were blinders you would put over your bull's eyes so he would go where you led him without putting up a fight.  Apparently a bull that can't see doesn't fight.

This is a pump organ.  See the pedals under Roz's feet?  A person playing this organ had to continually pump them while playing.  In addition, there are paddles that controlled things such as the volume of the organ.  (You can see them by her knees.)  So a person playing this organ had to move her knees (picture a chicken impersonation), pump with her feet, and play with her hands.  (And then go home and take a nap from the workout!)

Our next stop was the one-room schoolhouse.

Roz rang the bell for school to begin and had the students line up at the door—girls in front and boys in back.

Did you see the message here?  Clever, huh?  I didn't catch it until my mom pointed it out.

Boy, have times changed!  (You can click to enlarge.)

All the girls wore a bonnet to school, and all the boys wore a cap.  I love the look on Hannah's face.  She was ready to take it all in!

I know I'm biased, but I'm pretty sure this kid would have been on Little House on the Prairie if she had been alive back then!

First up:  Fingernail check.  Students were given a hand and face check at the beginning of school every day.  This was a poor country school and the families couldn't afford a doctor visit, so cleanliness was very important.  If their fingernails were dirty or too long, they received licks.  (Well, they would have 100 years ago, anyway.)

Next up:  Quill pen writing.  If I had known we were going to do this here, I probably would have refrained from dismantling Hannah's Indian headdress for school last week!  :) You had to write with a gentle hand. If you pushed hard enough for the teacher to hear a scratching sound . . . licks.

Grandma helped Millie with her quill pen writing.

Our next stop was the tool shed.

The kids took turns shelling the corn, which is basically flicking the dried up kernels off of the cob.  Can you imagine how much your thumbs would ache after a day of doing this?

For families who could afford it, a corn shelling machine could be purchased from the Sears & Roebuck catalog for a whopping $.79.  And after seeing how much faster and easier this made the corn shelling process, I can guarantee my family would have gone without food for a couple of weeks just to be able to afford one!

After the corn was shelled, you were left with a box of kernels and cobs.  The kernels could be planted or fed to the animals, and there were plenty of uses for the cobs!

If you were a little girl, this corncob doll might be your only toy . . .

. . . and if you were a little boy, this might have been your only toy!

I thought this was just part of the Frosty the Snowman song, but there really is such a thing as a corncob pipe!

And some people would attach feathers to them to make darts!

Here's some of our group giving the corncob darts a try!

Another use for corncobs:  toilet paper.  Needless to say, I didn't get a picture of that one.  :)

Next the kids moms got to see what doing laundry used to look like.  Lord, may I never complain about it again!

First, the water was drawn from a well.

Then it was poured into a bowl.

After the clothes were scrubbed, they were run through the wringer.

Finally, they were hung out to dry.

Roz kept referring to these as "Grandpa's underwear," and before we left Millie leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Mom, are those really Grandpa's underwear?"  :)

Our next stop was the log cabin.

First, the kids plowed the garden.

Then Roz taught them how to drop the seeds in and use their feet to bury them so they wouldn't put too much strain on their backs.

Then the kids planted their corn seeds in the garden.  This picture captures the essence of my kids more than any other picture I've ever taken.  Notice how Hannah is showing this little girl how it's done and Millie is standing back observing while someone else is doing the work?  Yep, that's my girls!  ;)

But she did work hard to get the water pumping so dirty hands could be washed.

And finally, we peeked into the carriage house.

Here's a typical wagon.

And a much fancier carriage.

It was fun to see how much has changed over the past 100 years.  I love the simplicity of life back then.  I love that kids had manners.  I love that people ate what they grew.  I love that relationships within the family and within the church were the norm and not the exception.  I love that there wasn't the distraction of telephones, television, internet.  Even so, I am thankful beyond words that I live in the age of the washing machine and air conditioning!